The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers
to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is
provided by the
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you
manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can
be found on the NDLTD website.

Search results

Organisations deploy information systems (IS) with the exclusive intention to pursue their business objectives. Executive managers assign ownership of IS to business leaders, expecting them to leverage the IS towards achieving the objectives of the business areas. Many business leaders are reluctant to take ownership of the IS in their business areas, placing the organisation at risk that IS may not be optimally utilised and that business areas may not achieve their objectives. Little guidance exists to assist organisations and business leaders to understand what “taking ownership of IS” entails. This phenomenological study focuses on the experiences of staff members with respect to IS ownership to acquire an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon of IS ownership in a financial services organisation. The study develops a framework for understanding IS ownership through a process of induction. The study views the relationship between IS ownership role-players through the lens of social exchange theory, with the relationship between IS ownership role-players as a focus area of IS ownership. In social exchange theory, the success of the relationship is based on reciprocity. The IS ownership framework discusses the different perspectives of the role-players with respect to defining IS ownership, understanding why IS ownership is required, the criteria for having ownership, the rights, the obligations and the expectations associated with IS ownership. The framework comprises the construct and the institutionalisation and application of IS ownership. The construct of IS ownership clarifies what IS ownership entails, what the rationale is for IS ownership and where IS ownership should reside. The institutionalisation and application of IS ownership explains the governance and management processes requiring that all assets, including IS, should have owners and that IS ownership should be assigned to identified individuals. Management of the resources to enable the successful application of IS in the organisation is needed to utilise IS ownership as a strategic resource in the organisation. The framework offers an understanding of IS ownership and promotes IS ownership as a resource in the organisation to enhance the possibility of optimally leveraging the IS in the business areas in pursuit of their business objectives.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2015.
tm2015
Informatics
PhD
Unrestricted

In the CBD of Tshwane, a cross societal and cultural architecture, that is of and from place, will be used to create an inner-city sanctum of a lingual repository that connects all walks of life in a societal apotheosis. The site under investigation is seen as a politically and economically charged precinct within the CBD of Pretoria/Tshwane. Although it does not allow for human activity to proliferate to its fullest capacity, the inherent intention of the surrounding buildings is clear but their language doesn t talk to one another. An architecture that juxtaposes but also synthesises the existing is required. A contained within this program, dealing with language connects all walks of people, initiating inclusivity and a self restorative interaction between society in a bottom-up approach to node creation and synthesis of existing nodes in the CBD.
Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2016.
tm2016
Architecture
MArch(Prof)
Unrestricted

The following project aims to demonstrate how interior design can improve the efficiency of South African Shoprite supermarket interiors. This entails designing specific parts of an interior model for South Africa's largest retailer's most valuable brand, which balances utilising the minimum amount of resources and maximising the user experience in order to achieve efficient interior design. This is to relate the interior space to the brand promise of providing the lowest possible prices in a satisfying and convenient first world shopping environment that is conducive to a comfortable and enjoyable shopping experience. Utilising the minimum amount of resources demonstrates the impact of interior design on energy, water and material efficiency as well as the indoor environmental quality, which are the four interdependent regions which have the biggest impact on the interior environment. An appropriate interior design for Shoprite, which considers their core target market as key, further maximises the user experience by improving shopping convenience, productivity and comfort within the supermarket. Together, these aspects aid in representing the brand promise within the interior space, which is the interior designer's biggest contribution to the retail sector. This indicates the possibility in increasing Shoprite's financial turnover by lowering the supermarket's operational costs and increasing customer loyalty towards the brand. Operational costs are lowered through lowering electricity consumption by specifying appropriate lighting solutions, equipment, materials and finishes; lowering water consumption by specifying low flow water fittings; and by using appropriate materials and construction methods within the new design. Customer loyalty is increased through differentiating the brand from its competitors beyond the products being sold, by establishing an appropriate brand identity in store which the target market can relate to and which fulfils their aspirations for a satisfying shopping experience which is convenient, healthy, comfortable and enjoyable. In so doing, the positive impact of interior design on everyday retail environments is revealed, proving that interior design is not simply a luxury, but a necessity. The project results in a set of interior design guidelines, informed by theory and driven by the interior design problems identified within the existing Shoprite supermarket design. These guidelines are illustrated in an example of a typical site, which was used to develop and test the interior components. In addition, the flexibility of the components is explored, in order for the solution to be adaptable to various existing and new Shoprite supermarkets. Focusing on that which is in the power of the discipline of interior design, only specific parts of the supermarket are designed (the interior components). The components selected are those which have the most potential to make the biggest impact in terms of minimising resources and maximising the user experience within the supermarket. These interior components are: (1) the in-store departments, which include the Deli, Bakery and Butchery; (2) the aisle navigation in store; and (3) the checkout area. They have the potential to make the biggest impact in terms of efficiency by lowering operational costs and increasing customer loyalty, as discussed above. The parts can be given to merchandisers to determine the final layout and visual merchandising of the supermarket as a combination of the parts, in order for the project to evolve into a roll-out strategy for Shoprite supermarkets.
Mini Dissertation (MInt(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2016.
tm2016
Architecture
MInt(Prof)
Unrestricted

The urban environment resembles a non-static circuit that continuously records, processes and transmits information governed by human needs (Griffin & Kittler, 1996:720). This transfer of information may be compared to frequency bands mediating between man and his built environment: A high frequency of indefinite human activity and a low frequency, representational of definite built form. By appropriating the philosophical principles of Jurgen Habermas to architecture, it is proposed that indefinite activity lends animation to definite form, which enables man to critique and eventually alter his context. Where definite form overpowers indefinite activity, a disproportional model occurs, where man is made silent and alienated from his context, his needs neglected and his space trapped in time. The programmatic development of Pretoria as administrative capital over time manifests as introverted architectural assemblages and incomplete spatial narratives. The city s need for indefinite activity is made clear when an insurgent and informal urban program exploits the structure of definite built form - irrelevant of initial function. The latent potential of unprogrammed urban space as a by-product of fractured urban assembly offers un-tapped opertunity regarding the diversity of urban layering as an alternative way to read, challenge and interact with the city. By opening marginal space for insurgent urban activity, the strategy aims at establishing a sub-network of programmed marginal space clusters within Pretoria s CBD to introduce inner city sprawl (an implosion of fabric and activity). By exploiting the lack of clearly defined usefulness and in the absence of claims to ownership, opportunity for marginal urban space to associate programmatically with uncatered-for-users and neglected activities, sets the tone for architectural intervention. The intervention explores the methods of how architecture can strategically introduce marginal urban space into the city fabric by proclaiming and facilitating a relationship between marginal client and program. Through the exploitation of existing built form and the marginal space it produced, an architectural form is to be developed that may serve as a didactic catalyst towards an alternative and responsive urban experience. The main driver for function is to provide internalised built entities with appropriate public interface so as to act as a base from which to launch public activity. A marginal urban plinth, next to the North Gauteng Advocates Association, will be utilised as a laboratory to test the validity of architecture as vessel to activate public insurgency, in a strategy towards inner-city renewal. Existing built form and program of buildings contributing towards the genesis of marginal space is approached as a host to be exploited by the proposed architecture. Internalised information and function of the host is to be extracted to generate spatial drivers for new and alternative spatial conditions.
Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2016.
tm2016
Architecture
MArch(Prof)
Unrestricted

The potential of the Apies River Corridor, and the identified site s relegation to the engineering demands of modernisation, has resulted in layers of water, built fabric, transport and energy infrastructure that presently dissect the site into rigidly controlled, isolated functions. This has consequently led to the loss of the Apies River s recreational and natural presence within the city. Its ecological potential as resource, as well as its enigmatic and symbolic existence, has been straightjacketed into a linear concrete entity. Its historical significance in the establishment and development of the city, as well as its significance as recreational identity, has been rendered anonymous. Fragmented enclaves (deadlock urban situations) have restricted the potential of underutilised, surplus public spaces. The theoretical premise of this dissertation asserts that the great divide between nature and culture of the modern paradigm, and the consequential development of industrialisation and urbanisation, controlled our cities' natural resources in independent networks of infrastructural systems, to the control, convenience and exploitation of our cultural practices. Implemented as vehicles for political, social and economic agendas, the current isolated implementation of our urban infrastructure are spatially fragmenting the public realm. The site chosen for the project has been identified as a collection of fragmented surplus sites adrift between the infrastructural edges of the historic Ceremonial Boulevard know as Stanza Bopape Street (formerly Church Street), and the Apies River Corridor; two significant infrastructural entities in the city of Pretoria. A reinterpretation of our development processes is required, that acknowledges non-human natural systems as agents and acknowledges the constraints of our cultural practices.1 By reimagining existing infrastructure as part of the production of form and space, marginalised urban voids can be regained for innovative design interventions, alternative occupation, and public appropriation. The potential of such a reinvention lies in public space that capitalises on the spatial, material and socio-economic possibilities of infrastructure to increase the area's ecological contribution, and amplify its historical significance through establishing a relationship between Stan Street, the Apies River, the proposed interventions and historical remnants, towards reinstating an enigmatic and recreational experience as well as ecological awareness beyond its infrastructural use.
Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2016.
tm2016
Architecture
MArch(Prof)
Unrestricted

This dissertation approaches the concept of city as object as experimental ground for exploring, understanding and expressing an architectural process that might define and delineate the reading of place as conductor of narrative and memory. The developed process is utilised in order to understand and interpret memory of the object , and becomes a tool for exposing the absence of presence. The intention of with the proposal is to employ the complex historical context of the city of Johannesburg, as manifested in the built fabric of the city, in order to transcribe the city as object into the city as memory through the use of fiction and narrative. In order to create an effective description of the city as memory, multiple layers of narrative must be expressed at different scales and converted into a tectonic proposal which represents the arrangement and ordering of those narratives. The three structural relationships which pervade the narrative of The Secret Garden (1909) can be found to exist on a physical level in the city of Johannesburg, and the book is seen as a metaphor for the dynamic and often unstable ur¬ban conditions of Johannesburg. The structural relationships in the fiction are used as basis for the architectural investigation, which will present the recurring themes of The Secret Garden in an architectural form at the site of the Cosmopolitan Hotel. PRESENCE, ORIGIN and AESTHETIC OBJECT are questioned through the application of Peter Eisenman s theory of scaling, in order to determine how the understanding of memory can inform the reoccupation and continued fiction of the Cosmopolitan Hotel. This action is explored with the intension to connect the city of Johannesburg, the object , to those projecting the action, the reader , in order to instil the city of Johannesburg as memory. The role of the city as memory questions whether the Johannesburg building fabric is an appropriate relic . More specifically it questions whether heritage buildings located in a city such as Johannesburg can be reused in such a way so as to transcend the present and future developments which surround them. The proposed programme will attempt to locate the place of architectural speculation with regards to the city context, and explicate the relationship between the speculative act of architecture and representational inquiry. The proposed architectural intervention will translate the fiction into a more detailed spatial experience, with the purpose of emphasizing an approach to the reuse of heritage buildings, so that they become the catalyst points within a city which transcribe the object into the whole. Therefore an architectural process is developed which transcribes and reacts to the pre-existing, present and implied elements (PAST, PRESENT and IMMANENT), whilst also emphasizing and understanding of what those elements are.
Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2016.
tm2016
Architecture
MArch(Prof)
Unrestricted

This dissertation is rooted in the premise of stitching together and creating relationships between components and conditions that define a place and its essence. Through architecture, the project focuses on the creation of interconnections between these and subsequent reciprocal complementation and animation. The town of Bela-Bela developed radially around the Warmbaths fountain, which served as the settlement genesis and origin. Due to the water s mystical, mythical and medicinal allure, favourable weather conditions and the serene natural environment, recreational facilities were envisaged and developed here to accommodate the intersection with the water and natural environment enveloping it. The recreational facilities and the town were conceived to be inseparable entities but have evolved to operate independently through privatisation and insulation of the physical and metaphysical nucleus to the place: The central gardens and fountain. The site of investigation is the eastern boundary condition of the Warmbaths Forever Resort. The CBD and major transportation infrastructure ring this site and extend into the urban and rural environment. The urban intention is to create a condition that re-instils a public relationship between the nucleus and the urban context, while the programmatic intentions are to facilitate and reference the characteristics and conditions that define and make up the place, so as to interconnect and animate the town and the everyday with the extraordinary that presides. The architectural intentions are to enable an interchanging animation between architecture, the natural environment and the context, while creating a sensorial intersection with the inherent poetics of the water from the fountain and those from the natural landscape.
Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2016.
tm2016
Architecture
MArch(Prof)
Unrestricted

The natural world consists of incredibly complex and integrated systems. Ecosystems and biodiversity all work cohesively to sustainably maintain the basis of our very existence on the planet. These interrelationships form the foundation of all living things and have zero impact on the natural environment. Mankind hugely influences natural systems through its introduction of technological systems . This influence is traceable to the unsustainable extraction of natural resources, which became wide-spread in the industrial era. Since the start of the industrial era, city borders have rapidly expanded often leaving the inner-city decentralized. Such expansion has made its mark on the central business district of Pretoria, where natural voids have been created in the city fabric. The environment in the CBD, through the impact of human activities, is in a state of decay, which is a threat to the very existence of the ecological environment. Architecture needs to return to its roots and find a spatial condition to co-exist with the natural realm in a regenerative manner. Thus utilizing nature s ability to solve problems that we currently struggle with. This dissertation focuses on regenerative architecture. The ecological environment, and certain insects in particular, provides us with countless solutions. Unfortunately, we sometimes mistake the innovation and services of insects as the aggravation of pests. The proposed program therefore centers on the research of these insects and on learning what they can provide for the greater good of humanity s future; a future where humans and nature have a mutually beneficial relationship. This project also taps into the closed-loop-system of the regenerative theory in which, nothing is seen as a single entity, but rather as a system where anything is beneficial and interrelates to everything. This theory can only strengthen and densify Pretoria s inner city, filling the voids with systems and contributing positively towards the regeneration of resources.
Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2016.
tm2016
Architecture
MArch(Prof)
Unrestricted